When determining the thermal design power (TDP) limit of our GPUs, NVIDIA engineers monitor the GPU's power consumption while running a wide range of real-world 3D applications in a worst-case thermal environment. We then set the GPU's clock speeds based on these results.
Under real world conditions running today's latest games, however, most GPUs will never approach their TDP; power consumption varies from one application to another, and most users don't run their GPUs under worst-case environmental conditions.
In cases where the GPU isn't fully taxed, it would be beneficial if the GPU could increase its clock frequency to deliver improved 3D performance and/or higher image quality with richer graphics effects enabled. This is where NVIDIA's GPU Boost technology comes in.
A combination of hardware and software technology that works with the GeForce GTX 680, GPU Boost works in the background, dynamically adjusting the GPU's graphics clock speed automatically, based on GPU operating conditions. Dedicated hardware circuitry continually monitors GPU power consumption. GPU Boost automatically adjusts clocks to achieve the maximum possible clock speed while remaining within a predefined power target.
GPU Boost operates completely autonomously with no game profiles and no intervention required by the end user, providing an instant performance boost to gamers.
GeForce GTX 680's base 3D frequency is 1006MHz, which is called the Base Clock. This is the minimum 3D frequency the GPU is guaranteed to achieve running under load in TDP apps (strenuous real-world applications that push power utilization to the Thermal Design Power limits of a GPU).
The Boost Clock is the average clock frequency the GPU will run under load in many typical non-TDP apps that require less GPU power consumption. On average, the typical Boost Clock provided by GPU Boost in GeForce GTX 680 is 1058MHz, an improvement of just over 5%. The Boost Clock is a typical clock level achieved while running a typical game in a typical environment.
However, in many cases the GPU will have additional power headroom available and will automatically increase the Boost Clock even higher than 1058MHz. As long as the GPU remains under its power target, GPU Boost will seamlessly increase the GPU Clock: clock speeds of 1.1GHz or higher have been observed internally in testing various non-TDP apps.
GPU Boost is fully compatible with GPU overclocking. Using third-party overclocking utilities provided by NVIDIA board partners, GeForce GTX 680 users can adjust the GPU's power target to enable higher clock speeds. Once the power target has been increased, the GPU can be overclocked by raising the GPU clock offset. As you can see in the screenshot below, some GeForce GTX 680 cards are able to scale to much higher clock speeds:
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks